Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

This is the lifestyle / craft / everyday blog of Amanda Rose Zampelli - designer, crafter, smiler, and internet friend.

a watercolored mini book using The Cinch

Let's take a deep breath everybody, {{inhale, exhale}}  This is a jam-packed post. Get all the way through it, and you'll find a GIVEAWAY at the end. Haa!

Happy Friday! If you are visiting me for the first time from the We R blog, then I'm very pleased to meet you!  Thanks for stopping by. My name is Amanda Rose Zampelli, and I was recently hired by We R Memory Keepers as a product designer and as a bonus: I get to blog a bit for them too!

01 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

Today I'm excited to share this watercolored mini book I created with the help of the We R tools and supplies you see below.  The Cinch, some coil binding, one of the beloved TAB punches and adhesives, and part of an AlbumsMadeEasy pocket page were the basis of what helped me construct my mini book.

00 We R materials | Amanda Rose blog

First, I cut an AlbumsMadeEasy pocket page down the middle to use the plastic 6x6 pockets as protectors for my front and back covers.

00 We R materials cut | Amanda Rose blog

Those pockets also dictated the size of my photos. Because the front and back covers were going to be 6x6, I made the photos the same width, but and inch shorter in height.  The photos were printed 6 inches wide x 5 inches long, so I would have room for the tabs.

00 We R materials photos | Amanda Rose blog

Here's where this project gets interesting. ;) I could have printed my 6x5 photos on photo paper. I could have trimmed my photos to size, put them in my mini book, and called it a memory-keeping day. I, however, had an idea: I wanted this account of my Monday to be in watercolor. Yes, it involved some extra steps. Yes, it took about 2x longer than if I just used printed out photos, but it's how I wanted this mini to go. (And I love the result!)

Okay, here's how I did it: watercolor paper (trimmed to 6 inches x 5 inches), your photos, and...the kicker...CARBON PAPER. Oh, the crafty miracle of carbon paper.

00 We R materials after tracing 4 | Amanda Rose blog

I put the carbon paper between the watercolor paper and my photos, and with a ballpoint pen, traced the edges of the things in my photos.  What results with this method is a line sketch (water-coloring book of sorts) of your photo, ready to be painted in.

00 We R materials after tracing 2 | Amanda Rose blog

Once all my photos were turned into line sketches, I put them in order, painted on them, let them dry, jotted a few notes right on top of the painted images, and attached the time via my We R TAB punch that the event occurred.

00 We R materials tabs | Amanda Rose blog

After all my tabs were on, each page was ready to be punched and binded using the Cinch.

00 We R materials using cinch | Amanda Rose blog

It's amazing how much of a 'cinch' the Cinch really is (I had to do it). So simple, and within minutes, my mini was perfectly (like, literally flawlessly) bound.

00 We R materials binding | Amanda Rose blog

The rolling and twisting of the curly white binding wire was one of my favorite parts. 

29 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

Mini book bound, tabs in place...

28 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

...and now I have a sweet little 'Day in the Life' watercolored mini book account of my March Monday.

00 We R materials after tracing | Amanda Rose blog

Without further ado, I give you my watercolored documentation - one handcrafted page after another:

03 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

04 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

05 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

06 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

07 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

08 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

09 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

10 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

11 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

13 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

14 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

15 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

16 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

17 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

18 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

19 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

20 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

21 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

22 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

23 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

24 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

25 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

27 watercolored mini | Amanda Rose blog

'Day in the Life' is a fun documentation project.  I've done some in past (see here). Documenting it the way I did above allowed me to practice sketching the lines and shapes of everyday objects, and have paint brush play with my watercolors.  I also was dying to break out that Cinch! Haa haa!

I'm coming to you next week with another Cinched mini book, but one very different from the one above. Stay tuned!

You can catch me here on this blog daily, find me on instagram | twitter | pinterest | bloglovin', or pop in every Friday to see my crafts and fun things in collaboration with my new work family at We R Memory Keepers.

...and speaking of We R Memory Keepers, they're hosting a weekend-long GIVEAWAY! How would you like to win all that you see below? An Instagram Album, Corner Chomper, and Instagram Jouranaling Card pack! To enter, go here https://a.pgtb.me/T1w4hK.

We r mem April 7 giveaway

Friday, April 04, 2014 at 05:00 AM in Alejandro & Carmen , around here, crazy cat lady, DAY in the LIFE, family, food, house | HOME | heart, watercolor, We R Memory Keepers | Permalink | Comments (9)

the ritual of #nojokeJULY

Ritual of NO JOKE JULY | Amanda Rose blog

This post is the sister post to yesterday's post.  Where yesterday's post was about the meals I prepared and ate, this post is about how I've been planning my July days, and working the good habits in as best as I can.

NOTE:
I'm on my summer vacation, so this ritualizing process in infinitely easier to practice and perfect when the whole day belongs to you.  I keep thinking how one can shop for the right foods, spend the time to prepare them in a healthy manner, and then work exercise into their day when they have a full time job and kids and a home to upkeep.  Great mystery of life.

First, I start my day off with ONE GOOD CUP OF COFFEE.

01 coffee in morn

While I was teaching, I would drink about three.  Then, I would feel artificially wired all day and crash hard by 4-5pm.  With summer vacation, I goaled to limit my coffee consumption to one cup a day -- just for a little boost and morning kick start.

When my coffee is done, I tie the hair back, brush my teeth, and dress for a run.

02 get ready to run

I put on my headphones, grab my iPhone, and slather on lip balm.

Next, I take about 2-3 minutes to stretch, almost always while the boops are looking on, seemingly wanting to join their mommy on the outside.

03 stretch on stoop

Then, I start my RunKeeper app and set out on my walk.
(For more of my jog/run essentials, read this post.)

04 music pics pace

I do a warm-up walk for 5 minutes and then jog after that, listening to my body, and trying to out-do myself by a minute or two from the day before.  It's about a mile from my house to my trail, and once I get there, I'm in the shade, and among other runners and bicyclists, and I feel inspired.

05 mid way running

This first week, I've only taken an hour for this workout.  I plan to add more time as my endurance increases and I get more fit.  This will probably require an earlier start time, as jogging any time after 9am is too hot to allow me to perform at my best.

Upon returning home, I shower.

I try to give myself visual motivation to have the rest of my day go according to plan: 

06 motivation

*new bikini on sale from Old Navy | *olw for Summer

Next, I start thinking about what's for breakfast/lunch/dinner if I haven't decided already.  Last week I rented some Rachel Ray and Food Network magazines from the library to tag recipes in.  I'll look through those and prepare one of the meals.

07 plan meals

After the meal's prepared, I set it down on a well lit surface and take a quick iPhone picture of it.  I explained a little bit about why I adopted this daily ritual for July in yesterday's post.

08 set meal down on floor

Lastly, before digging in or after I've eaten, or even in between bites, I app-attack the image and post to instagram.  

09 post meal

THUS is my ritual that I plan to repeat and fine tune daily through July, and probably August.

The point of it is what we all already know: (1) you need to eat right to feel right, (2) you need to push your body physically to keep it healthy and strong, and (3) both of those things combined need to be worked into your life daily to maintain a healthy lifestyle -- made a ritual. DUH.

Bottom line:  I'm trying.  I might seem annoying if you follow me on instagram, but I post as a testament to trying.  As I noted earlier, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is hard and time consuming. If it wasn't, more people would do it.  So all we can do is try.  Work good habits in, ritualize them best ya can, and repeat daily.

Good luck.

Start today.

Catch ya later!

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Tuesday, July 09, 2013 at 09:40 AM in DAY in the LIFE, food, fresh starts, HEALTHY EATING, RUNNING / FITNESS, seasons | SUMMER | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

a Day in the Life | 5.31.2013

06 Amanda Rose Week 22 PL

A week ago I participated in Ali Edwards' documenting exercise of capturing a 'day in the life' of yourself. 

Unlike my February Day in the Life, and March's and April's after that, this time around I did NOT take my Nikon camera with me.  I quick-snapped from the iPhone as the craziness of the day called for it. 

I woke up last Friday a little off kilter, but resolved to a no-edit quick iPhone snap strategy for the fourth round of this awesome project.

It was a regular, solitary Friday -- a good representation of the 'I'm-so-ready-for-summer' teacher-version of what my life's been like lately.

The end product:

00 Collage0100 Collage0200 Collage0300 Collage0400 Collage0500 Collage06

I jotted more specific captions about each photo in my Project Life inspired by what Elise did here. That will be coming to you soon.  For purposes of this post, I captioned each photo with a short phrase or word that applied, inspired by what Ali did here.

Thanks for visiting!

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Friday, June 07, 2013 at 04:47 AM in DAY in the LIFE | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

PL 2013 |week 18|

00 title

This is my |week 18|, ya'll.  

It is made up of a two page spread, with a 6x12 insert in the middle, my brochure-like April 'Day in the Life' and a scrapbook layout of Jimmy on one side and my end-of-April currentlies on the other.

01 left

Most of the beginning is all from our dad-and-daughters trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

02 April Showers

I don't remember many April showers...just April coldness. :/

03 Cherry Blossoms

04 left bonsai

That Bonsai Museum really hit me. The whole entire day trip made me think of him, but the bonsai museum...[deep sigh].

05 left bonsai

me + sister + dad + flowers = bbg day

06 bbg

07 grow where you

I was waiting for the right time to use this Studio Calico insert from the March PL kit.  
This spread was it.

08 grow where you

09 me ness dad

After the Brooklyn Botantic Garden photos, I inserted the brochure, and behind it is my 'Day in the Life'.

10 brochure turn

Front is the main photo and recordings...

11 Day in Life

Back is photo page 1 of 3...

12 Day in Life

...then open it up (all brochure-like)...

13 Day in Life

...and the inside a photo pages 2 and 3.

14 Day in Life

After my 'Day in the Life' came the Jimmy Fallon layout.

15 Jimmy

...and on the back of that is an 'Adios, April' currentlies layout:

16 currentlies April

17 currentlies April

Then, the whole right side to finish of |week 18| --

18 right

My MAKE {olw} intention for May...

19 meditate

...and two shots of me *attempting to* meditte for the firt time in my life.
(A more detailed accountof how it's going coming soon to this blog near you.)

20 week in review

My 'Week in Review' was done again like the W-in-R in |week 15| -- I took a 12:4 portion of one of my reent photos and floated the 'week in review' over that.  Then, I pulled colors with some colors of the photos around it.

21 week in review

That's all for for this spread.
Thanks, as always, for viewing.

22 may tab

( I was so excited to adhere that 'MAY' tab to my album this past weekend. )

Only 34 more work days left until Summer.

Let's do it! 

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

For more of my past Project Life spreads, go HERE.

For more on Project Life itself, go HERE.

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

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Wednesday, May 08, 2013 at 04:24 AM in DAY in the LIFE, project life, Project Life 2013 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

a Day in the Life | 4.30.2013

00 title snapshot

Tuesday I participated in Ali Edwards' documenting exercise of capturing a 'day in the life' of yourself. 

Like I said back in February, when I posted about my February Day in the Life, I'm not usually one to 'exact replica' another's style of doing something.  Usually I'm more of a 'oh-that's-cool-I'm-inspired-How-can-I-make-that-more-my-style' kind of crafter, but when I saw Ali's January DayintheLife insert, I was floored.  It was so beautiful and appealed to the designer/life-artist in me more than I can describe, so I really wanted to give it a shot JUST LIKE SHE DID IT.

I purchased and downloaded Ali's templates...HERE and HERE.
I printed her recording sheet which helped me track my day...HERE.

I woke up Tuesday not-really-ready for a third round of this awesome project, but I did it anyway.

It was a pretty hudrum, boring day -- a good representation of the spring teacher-version of what my life's been like lately.  One thing that has been consistent: it started super early and ended super early.  Yep. I've said it before, and I'll say it agin: such is the life of a genuine early bird.

The end product:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12_April

Some of the captured moments:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_01

Late morning/afternoon shots:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_02

What made up my evening:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_03

I will be posting about how all I fit all the above in my Project Life album in the near future, but it's not much different than how I did it for February and March.

I strongly recommend giving the next 'Day in the Life' a try.  It's most likely scheduled for one of the last days in May.  

I'm definitely going to be participating for May, and no matter what day is assigned, my May 'Day in the Life' is going to be taking place on Thursday, May 30th: the date of the big 5th grade field trip. Hooray!

Thanks, as always, for allowing me to share!

Have a happy first Sunday of May!

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Sunday, May 05, 2013 at 10:15 AM in DAY in the LIFE | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

a Day in the Life | 3.29.2013

DAY IN THE LIFE

Friday I participated in Ali Edwards' documenting exercise of capturing a 'day in the life' of yourself. 

Like I said in February, when I posted about my February Day in the Life, I'm not usually one to 'exact replica' another's style of doing something.  Usually I'm more of a 'oh-that's-cool-I'm-inspired-How-can-I-make-that-more-my-style' kind of crafter, but when I saw Ali's January DayintheLife insert, I was floored.  It was so beautiful and appealed to the designer/life-artist in me more than I can describe, so I really wanted to give it a shot JUST LIKE SHE DID IT.

I purchased and downloaded Ali's templates...HERE and HERE.
I printed her recording sheet which helped me track my day...HERE.

I woke up Friday ready for a second round of this awesome project, and I did it.

It was very different than last time since I've been on Spring Break off from teacher work this week. It was a much more laid back, hippy dippy kind of day.  However, it still started super early and ended super early.

Such is the life of a genuine early bird.

The end result:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12_March_edited-1

Some of the captured moments:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_5_edited-1

later on in the morning:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_6_edited-1

On to the afternoon & evening:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_7_edited-1

I will be posting about how all I fit all the above in my Project Life album in the near future, but it's not much different than how I did it last month.

I strongly recommend giving the next 'Day in the Life' a try.  

I'm definitely going to give it a third go-at-it, and see how I can make it better each month.

Thanks, as always, for allowing me to share!

Have a happy first Tuesday of April!

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P.S. - Look back at 3:15AM | scene with Joey and the jam...well, here it is. ;)

Tuesday, April 02, 2013 at 10:16 AM in DAY in the LIFE | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

a Day in the Life | 2.28.2013

DSC_0323

Thursday I participated in Ali Edwards' documenting exercise of capturing a 'day in the life' of yourself. 

I'm not usually one to 'exact replica' another's style of doing something.  Usually I'm more of a 'oh-that's-cool-I'm-inspired-How-can-I-make-that-more-my-style' kind of crafter, but when I saw Ali's January DayintheLife insert, I was floored.  It was so beautiful and appealed to the designer/life-artist in me more than I can describe, so I really wanted to give it a shot JUST LIKE SHE DID IT.

I purchased and downloaded Ali's templates...HERE and HERE.
I printed her recording sheet which helped me track my day...HERE.
I woke up Thursday excited for the project, and I did it.

It was a heck of a good time.

I love the end result:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12_February

Some of the happenings from the morning:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_1

...and the highlights from the afternoon and evening:

AEdwards_DayInTheLife6x12PhotoCollage_2

Here's how I fit it into the |week 9| spread of my Project Life album.  

I strongly recommend giving the next 'Day in the Life' a try.  

I'm definitely going to give it another go, and it will be interesting to compare my day in March to this day from February, especially since my 'Day in the Life' March edition is going to take place during Spring Break off from teacher work.  Woo hoo! How much more exciting it might be! (OR NOT! Pajamas all day, anyone?)  Haa haa!  We'll see!

Have a happy Sunday in the life!

;)

Signature03

Sunday, March 03, 2013 at 08:05 AM in around here, DAY in the LIFE, fresh starts, house | HOME | heart, my blog/her blog | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

  • a Mile a Day in March
  • PROJECT LIFE 2015
  • 30 in 30 LIST
  • OLW 2015: PROOF

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